Flint mayor: Cost of lead fix could hit $1.5 billion

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said they had a constructive meeting Thursday on the drinking water crisis.
Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press

Governor Rick Snyder and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver meet with the press after a meeting to discuss the next steps in regards to Flint's water crisis Thursday, January 7, 2015, at the Romney Building in downtown Lansing. (Photo: Dave Wasinger/Lansing State Journal)

LANSING — Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said they had a positive and constructive meeting in Lansing Thursday morning and pledged to work together to resolve the city's drinking water crisis as Weaver said estimates of the cost to fix the city's lead-damaged infrastructure range as high as $1.5 billion.

Snyder apologized a second time for the state's role in the catastrophe.

"This is a situation that no one wanted would have ever happened, but it has happened," Snyder told reporters as he stood beside Weaver nears his offices in the Romney Building, across from the state Capitol.

"We're taking this extremely seriously."

The meeting followed this week's declaration by Snyder of a state of emergency in Flint and Genesee County, which makes more state resources available and is a required step before the state can request federal aid.

Flint's drinking water became contaminated with lead in 2014 after switching its supply source from Lake Huron to the more polluted and corrosive Flint River, while the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager.

The cost-cutting move resulted in a spike in lead levels in children, which causes permanent brain damage. A recent preliminary report from a task force appointed by Snyder placed most of the blame on the state Department of Environmental Quality and prompted the Dec. 29 resignation of DEQ Director Dan Wyant.

Interim Department of Environmental Quality director Keith Creagh, right, and Harvey Hollins, director of the Michigan Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives, talk with reporters after a meeting with Governor Rick Snyder and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver to discuss the next steps in regards to Flint's water crisis Thursday, January 7, 2015, at the Romney Building in downtown Lansing. (Photo: Dave Wasinger/Lansing State Journal)

Although the state assisted the city in moving its source of drinking water back to Lake Huron in October, concerns about contamination remain because the more corrosive Flint River Water damaged pipes and other infrastructure.

Snyder said an inter-agency task force will be set up to work on issues such as providing filters, testing the blood of children and developing estimates of how much money is needed.

Weaver said she's heard estimates ranging from a few million dollars to $1.5 billion

In another development related to the crisis, Flint filmmaker Michael Moore on Wednesday night called for the arrest of Snyder on charges of assault and corruption for what he called the premeditated poisoning with lead of children in Flint.

"It's disappointing to see such inflammatory comments at a time when the administration is working very closely with our partners in Flint and Genesee County to address health and safety issues. The state is committed to making sure Flint residents have clean, safe water," said Snyder spokesman Dave Murray.